Affections Touching Across Dimensions
by Zephyros-Phoenix
Summary: DISCONTINUED - Based on the film "What a Girl Wants," Renxoc. Soren is half-human, half-gundalian, has never known his father and lives with his mother, Sora. But when he finally gets a lead, Soren runs away from home to find his father, Ren Krawler. Soren makes many new friends on Gundalia, but his arrival is not welcome by all, especially by Ren's fiancee, Lillith.
1. Career Day

**Formerly titled "Of Wedlock"**

**After doing what every fan of anything would have eventually done (that is, creating the offspring of my characters and their romance interests/namely the next generation of Brawlers who can all be viewed on my deviantart with links on my profile), I thought about writing a story about them. The problem was, what kind of story?**

**And a while later, a movie that I personally enjoyed popped up on the television: "What a Girl Wants" with Amanda Bynes. You can say what you want about that movie, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, plus I have a soft spot for Amanda Bynes because I sort of grew up on her. So this movie was largely the inspiration for this fanfiction.**

**So, just a little background information: All the Brawlers are adults and have kids, etc. The events of Gundalian Invaders happens like it did in the official series and unlike my fanfiction "Spread Your Wings," Sora does not join the Brawlers in going to Neathia to fight. As such, she and Ren never made up. Also, Gundalian Invaders takes place when they're about in their 20s. Also, here's some background info on my characters. I'm sure most of you are already familiar with Ayden and Sora so I won't have to talk about them.**

**Soren Minamoto/Krawler: **Sora's half-Human half-Gundalian, 13 year old son. He is a Darkus battler, but has no Guardian Bakugan. He is best friends with Shin and Chichi. He runs away from home to search for the father he's never known: Ren Krawler.

**Daniel "DJ" Kuso Jr.: **Son of Dan and Runo, DJ is the 12 year old leader of the Brawlers next gen. He is a Pyrus battler and is partnered with Drago. He is hotheaded like his father and stubborn like his mother. His best friends are Shin and Chichi and he is completely oblivious to Bailey's crush on him.

**Shuichi "Chichi" Marukura: **Shuichi, commonly referred to by his friends as "Chichi," is Marucho's 11 year old nephew. Chichi is a tactical genius and an Aquos battler partnered with Preyas. He is usually the one to come up with plans and strategies.

**Bailey Gilbert: **Daughter of Billy and Julie, Bailey is a 12 year old party cowgirl and Subterra battler partnered with Hammer Gorem. She is all about having a great time and is very optimistic. She has a huge crush on DJ.

**Shin Kazami:** Shin is the 13 year old half-Human half-Vestal son of Shun and Ayden and a trained ninja. He acts much like his father but is more than willing to help his friends. He is particularly close with DJ and Soren. He is a Ventus battler partnered with Taylean and approaches the game with caution, analyzing his opponents before striking. He is often left to babysit his little sisters and although he voices his displeasure, he loves his sisters dearly and will do anything to protect them.

**Shiori and Shizuka Kazami: **Commonly referred to as "the twins," Shiori and Shizuka are the half-Human half-Vestal, 9 year old twin daughters of Shun and Ayden and are named after their grandmothers. Shiori, the more confident and outgoing twin, is a Ventus battler and uses Master Ingram and Shadow Wing while Shizuka, the quiet and shyer twin, is a Haos battler and uses Beast King Azreal and Maelstrom. The twins rarely fight on their own and are nearly unstoppable as a tag team. They love tagging along with their brother Shin and playing with him. Aside from Shin, the twins are very close with Soren, both due to their mothers' friendship and the fact that they are all half alien.

**So, knowledge about the above characters is not required as this story is mostly about Ren, Sora and Soren, but I thought it would be nice if you guys had a little bg info on them before reading this story. Pictures on deviantart.**

**Also, should I throw in the political stuff that was in the movie? If you don't know, in the movie, Amanda Bynes' character (Daphne)'s dad is like a British noble running for office and is engaged to a stuck up woman (with an equally stuck up daughter) who both try to get with of Daphne and ruin her chances of bonding with her dad. Should I also do something like that? Because without it, I find that this story will be stuck very quickly. Let me know what you think.**

**I do not own Bakugan, only Sora, Soren, Lex, Nessie and the Next Gen Brawlers. This fic is not associated with Bakugan.**

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><p><strong>Soren's POV<strong>

My name is Soren Minamoto. I'm a Gundalian, well, only half Gundalian really. I'm also half human. My real appearance is my Gundalian form, but I can disguise myself to look like a human. My mom and her friends are always reminding me that people still don't know about other aliens like Vestals, Gundalians and Neathians so I have to stay in my human form when we're out in public. But I can be in my real form whenever we're alone or among family and friends. It's honestly more refreshing to be in my true form. I don't like having to hide my real appearance.

My friend Shin and his little sisters are so lucky. They're all half Vestal. But since Vestals are so similar looking to humans, nobody can tell that they're half aliens.

All my life, my mom was the only family I knew. That is, if you don't count the incredibly close knit-ness of the Brawlers. My mom was a member back in the day, but she doesn't battle anymore. The Brawlers are still really close with each other and as a result, so are their kids, myself included.

But back to my story…Ever since I was born, it's just been me and my mom, Sora. We live close to the city and near her friends above an old, failed Italian restaurant, which my mom also bought and turned into a music store/cafe. She sells all sorts of things: CDs, instruments, pretty much anything related to music, plus she bakes all sorts of pastries and coffee. From what I know, music was another passion of hers, aside from Bakugan. She would've made it big in the music industry…but something prevented her from doing so.

Mom was a tough lady…she always put up a strong exterior, but I could see that she was depressed. It wasn't because she hated me. Mom loved me more than anything, something she made very clear to me just about every day. She thought she was hiding her unhappiness from me well, but I could see what was really going on. But I could never figure out what the cause of it was.

Maybe it had something to do with my dad. I had asked about him a couple times, but it seemed like she didn't want to talk about him. Every time I brought him up, she'd cast her eyes down sadly and tell me that she had a headache and needed to lie down. The first time I asked about him, she locked herself in her room for the rest of the night. I thought I should leave her alone, but when I went to check on her, I pressed my ear to her door and I could've sworn I heard her crying. I could see that it pained her to even think about it, so I just dropped the issue. Mom had enough to worry about and I didn't want to unnecessarily add to it.

"Soren! Hurry up, or you'll be late for school!" I looked up from my bowl of cereal and saw Plezira, one of my mom's Guardian Bakugan. Most of my friends got their Bakugan from their parents and Mom often offered to pass Leviathan and/or Plezira down to me. But I declined; to be honest I didn't really feel like an Aquos battler…

"Sorry, Nessie. I was just distracted," I replied, finishing up my cereal.

"Better hurry up kid, Shin's outside so don't keep him waiting," said Leviathan, Mom's other Guardian Bakugan.

"Thanks, Lex." I dumped my spoon and empty bowl into the sink and grabbed my school bag. As I raced down the stairs, I changed into my human appearance. "Bye, Mom!" I waved, racing out of her music store.

"Have a great day at school, Soren! I'll see you when you get back," she yelled back.

"Morning, Shin. Morning, girls," I greeted to Shin and his sisters. Shin and his sisters, Shizuka and Shiori, were Shun and Ayden Kazami's kids. Ayden was from Vestal but she moved here to be with Shun. Shin and I were both 13, the eldest of the Brawlers, but he was a couple months younger than me while his sisters were 9 years old. Shin has green hair like his mom and orange eyes like his dad. The twins on the other hand have black hair. Shiori has green eyes while Shizuka has silver eyes. It was honestly the only way to tell them apart. All three of them had the signature 'hair antenna' that Mr. Kazami had.

"Morning Soren," greeted Shin and the twins.

"Come on, I've made us late enough already," I said. We started walking towards school, the girls running on ahead of us.

"Were you asking about your dad again?" asked Shin.

"No, just thinking about him today," I replied. "I see the way it hurts Mom whenever I bring him up."

"Hey! Don't wander too far ahead! I want you to stay in my line of sight!" shouted Shin to the girls as they ran ahead of us. "Man, those two are always getting into trouble. And guess who has to get them out of it?" he asked in annoyance.

I chuckled. "You should count yourself lucky, Shin. I'd kill to have siblings. It sucks being an only child."

"That's what my dad always says. I think that's why he always wanted a lot of kids," said Shin. "But I guess you're right. Being an only child would be pretty lonely and as annoying as they are, I do love those girls," smiled Shin with pride.

"So is your dad coming to 'Career Day'?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, it's going to be so cool! He's going to show off all his ninja skills!" exclaimed Shin, doing some punches. Mr. Kazami was a ninja and he even started training Shin and the girls.

I looked down sadly. I was honestly really jealous of Shin and my other friends, DJ, Bailey and Shuichi, but we call him Chichi. We were all really close friends since our parents were the Battle Brawlers. They all had something I longed for…a father. I never knew my dad. I didn't even know his real name! I asked Uncle Dan, Shun and Marucho about him, but they said they promised Mom that they wouldn't tell me.

But I had a right to now, right? He was my father and I was his son, so I should get to know who he is! I should at least get to know his name and what he looked like!

"Dude, you ok?" asked Shin. He saw my sad expression and quickly added, "Oh Soren, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's ok. Don't worry about it."

"Well, can't your mom come?" Shin asked.

"Nah, she's got to run the store. But it's fine. I don't expect her to cut work just for 'Career Day'," replied Soren.

We finally made it to school where I tried to figure out what to do. Ask Mom about my dad one last time? Or leave her to her pain and never know?

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><p><strong>So, how was that for a first chapter? I wrote this a couple months ago but didn't want to publish it because it would add yet another story on my list to work on. So I waited until I finished a story before publishing this.<strong>

**Please tell me what you guys think! I really put a lot of work into this!**

**Review! ~ZP**


	2. I Need to Know

**So I'm really glad people really like this fic. I'm working really hard on it! So a lot of people seem to think I should follow the movie plot and I agree (in terms of the meddling fiancee). So, I will be introducing...actually, I'm not going to spoil it hehe! I'm just so excited about this fic.**

**Review Replies: **

**Ashley: **Thank you. I have very high hopes for this story :)

**Falling: **Aw, thanks! I will be adding the conflict stuff, but I made the mistake by referring to it as political stuff. It's not to much political stuff as it is someone trying to interfere with the family bonding between father and son and the inevitable reunion of lovers.

**drake: **Yeah, I'm going to go with the movie. and thank you!

**JCA: **Thanks, yeah I really love the movie and hope you like the story

**Black Swan: **Yes, the Next Gen Brawlers all received their Bakugan from their parents except for Soren because he doesn't know Ren or Linehalt. And yes, the old Brawlers aren't featured but may cameo, as this story is about the kids.

**book: **Thank you!

**sakuraphoenix: **THanks!

**Sheridan: **Thank you!

**I do not own Bakugan, only Sora, Soren, Lex, Nessie and other OCs. This fic is not associated with the Bakugan Battle Brawlers series.**

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><p><strong>Soren's POV<strong>

School was finally over and Shin, his sisters and I were walking home together like we did everyday. Career Day went about just as I expected it would. Shin's dad was by far the coolest, go figure. He showed us a couple of his ninja moves, which I wouldn't be surprised if the other kids tried recreating once they got home.

We didn't get to see DJ, Bailey and Chi-chi's Career Day person. They were in different grades than Shin and I. We were 13, so we were the eldest. DJ and Bailey were 12, Chi-chi was 11 and the twins were 9, the youngest.

Normally after school we would all get together and head over to Bakugan Interspace. Uncle Marucho created it so we always had prime access to it. But I wasn't going to join them today. I had a lot of homework to do, speaking of which why do teachers assign so much homework in the last week of school? Plus, I really needed to talk to my mom.

"See you later, Soren!" cried Shin.

"Bye Soren!" waved the girls.

"Later Shin, girls!" I waved them goodbye and ran into my mom's store. The café was filled with a couple people as usual.

"Here's your latte and blueberry muffin. Enjoy!" Mom handed a customer a latte and a plate with a blueberry muffin. The man gave her the money while she returned the change.

"Hey mom!" I exclaimed, running behind the counter, prepared to help her out.

"Hey kiddo. How was school today? You got a lot of homework?" she asked, wiping the counter clean.

"Not too much," I lied. "And school was good. It was Career Day," I answered.

"Career Day? Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, a slightly hurt expression on her face.

"I'm sorry, mom. I really wanted to ask you, but I know you're always so busy. I didn't want to add any unnecessary stress."

"Sweetie," she said, putting her hands on my shoulders and bringing her head down to my level so her eyes met mine, "I told you not to worry about me so much. I'm your mother, so it's my job to worry about you, not the other way around. Got it?"

I sighed. There was really no arguing with this woman. "Got it…" I chuckled.

Mom laughed and rubbed my head, messing up my spiky white hair. "Good, now head on upstairs and finish your homework. You can come down and help out once you're done, if you want to," she added. She always seemed unsure that I would want to help. I always helped out in the store whenever I could. Mom was working so hard and she needed all the help she could get. She did so much for me and I just wanted to return the favor.

"Ok!" I exclaimed. I grabbed my bag and ran up the stairs to our apartment.

"And don't eat any snacks! You'll spoil you're dinner!" she yelled after me.

"Ok!" I cried back.

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

It was dinnertime and Sora closed the store for the day. She made dinner and they sat at the small table in the kitchen. They had their usual chats about their days and Sora was nearly finished her plate.

Soren, however, was only half done. He spent the last few minutes pushing and poking his food with his fork.

"Honey, don't play with your food," Sora said.

"Oh, sorry, mom." Soren stopped his poking and started eating again.

"Better hurry up or you'll food will get cold."

"Yeah…" said Soren, staring at his plate.

Sora squinted her eyes at her son. She decided to do a little test. "I'm thinking of getting a tattoo. What do you think? Skull or butterfly?"

"Sounds good…" he said, clearly not paying any attention to what she was saying.

"And then I think I'll run through the streets butt naked," she said with a smirk, trying to hold back her laughter.

"Great…"

"Hey!" Sora nudged his arm, bringing Soren back to reality. "Something on your mind?"

Soren continued looking at his plate before sighing. He looked up at his mother. "Actually, there is-"

"So, what is it?" Sora asked, as she put another spoon full of her food into her mouth.

"I want to know who my dad is," he said with no hesitation.

Sora choked on her food and began coughing. Soren's words clearly caught her off guard.

"Mom!" he cried in worry.

Sora reached for her glass of water and drank it. She coughed a few more times before her throat was finally clear. "Soren…we've talked about this," he tone of voice much deeper and more serious.

"No, we haven't! I've grown up all my life not knowing who he is! You even made your friends promise not to tell me who he is!" he cried, his voice getting louder.

"Soren, don't raise your voice at me!" she yelled back.

Soren jumped back a little. His mother was a scary person when she was angry and lucky for him he hadn't seen her angry that often. "I'm sorry, mom, it's just…you don't know what it's like growing up not knowing. I feel like half of me is missing! Do you have any idea what that's like?"

Sora sighed and stood up from the table, taking her dishes to the sink. "You don't understand Soren. It was a long…time…ago. Your father turned out to be a completely different person than the man I fell in love with…and he hurt me. He hurt me very much," she said, hugging herself, her voice breaking slightly.

"Mom, I'm sorry but, I **need** to know!" he cried, stressing its importance to him.

Sora remained silent for a moment before sighing. "Soren, I'm sorry, but…I just can't…" she rushed off up the stairs. Soren heard her door slam shut and knew that he wasn't likely to get the answer he had been waiting years for.

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><p><strong>Well, I hope you like that!<strong>

**Soren asks the one question his mother never wanted to hear. But will Sora finally give in and tell her son about his father who so long ago broke her heart.**

**Please review! ~ZP**


	3. Thoughts at Midnight

**Thanks for all the feedback. Wish I was getting more so please do review! Don't just fav or alert please! ^^ Now, my series of Next Gen OCs has really taken off since I first created them. I originally only planned on making the Earth ones for the sole purpose of this fic but then thought to myself why shouldn't other characters from the other planets have kids too? So, other Next Gen OCs will be making appearances in later chapters, though it will mostly be restricted to Earth and Gundalia since those two planets are the settings. Visit my deviantart page for pics of them ^^**

**Review Replies: **

**sakurap: **oh he will ^^

**JCA: **Yeah she did. In a way, she thought he was the one, and then he went around and broke her heart :(

**Wolf: **Hm..well I first wrote this before we found out that Marucho deletes BI in MS so I'm kinda taking BI out of the fic now since we don't know if he intends on rebuilding it. Plus there's the whole Bakugan City in arc 2 of MS. But to answer your question he would have used digital Darkus Bakugan.

**drake: **Thank you ^^ I'm mostly going to follow the plot of the movie without all the political stuff but definitely some conflict after Soren's arrival between him and a certain someone. SPOILER

**shootingstar: **yeah lol

**Akane:** thank you! Please do review on my other stories, it makes me happy and more likely to update ^^

**I do not own Bakugan, only Sora, Soren, Lex, Nessie and other OCs. This fanfiction is purely fan-made and not associated with the Bakugan Battle Brawlers series.**

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><p><strong>Soren's POV<strong>

Mom stayed up in her room all night. She didn't even come down to say goodnight. I could tell that she wasn't going to come out. I felt like I had offended her by asking about my father, but I didn't mean to. I just wanted to know who he was. Was that too much to ask? I grew up all my life without a father and I just needed to know who he was. I had a right to know, right?

Nessie had gone up to be with my mom so it was just me and Lex down in the living room. I was flipping through channels on the television, trying to find something to preoccupy my thoughts, but nothing on the screen peaked my interests. I would only watch each channel for a few seconds before skipping to the next. Soon enough it just became a bored repetition of clicking and eventually I cycled through our entire channel listings.

"You ok, kid?" asked Lex, floating between my eyes and the television, which I wasn't really even watching in the first place.

"No, I just don't get it. All I want to know is his name and who he is! Is that too much to ask?" I cried in annoyance throwing the remote across the couch. Thankfully, it landed on the soft padding and didn't knock anything over.

"Look Soren, there's a lot about your mom that you don't know. She and your father were very happy together but…he wasn't exactly completely honest with who he was," Lex tried to explain.

"You know him? Lex, you gotta tell me!" I pleaded.

"Sorry, kid. But I can't. I promised your mother I wouldn't," he answered sadly. I guess even though I was his partner's kid, he was still very loyal to her and what she wanted. I couldn't blame him.

I crossed my arms and groaned. "That's what everyone said…" I muttered under my breath.

"It's not just because I promised your mother I wouldn't tell you, it's just I feel that this is something you should learn from her."

"Like she's ever gonna tell me anytime soon," I muttered, reaching for the remote and turning off the TV.

"Give her time. She's been hurting over this for a long time now. When she's ready, she'll tell you." Lex looked at the clock on the wall. "Come on, you better head off to bed. It's pretty late."

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" I got off the couch, ready to head up the stairs to my bedroom. I heard someone coming down the stairs and Lex and I quickly ducked behind the couch and out of sight.

"Sora, he's growing up and he's just going to keep asking you about it until you tell him," I heard Nessie say.

"I know Nessie, but…" I heard mom sigh. The lights weren't on, but there was a faint glow that entered the room. She must have been using a candle. I heard her pull out one of the chairs and sit at the table. I carefully peeked my head over the couch to see what she was doing down here so late. "I just don't want him to get hurt, like I did." I saw her put a book onto the table and start flipping through it. I wasn't too far away and I could see that it was a photo album. But it wasn't the same photo album she had with pictures of her and my friends and us. This was a different one.

"Soren's a big boy and you heard what the others said when they got back from Neathia. Ren defected from Barodius and rejoined the Brawlers. He's a good guy…" said Nessie, hoping to convince Sora.

Ren? Who was that? Was that my father? Or was it this Barodius? And what are they talking about? No, don't jump to conclusions…

"That was 14 years ago, Nessie. Things change. I've changed. And I wouldn't be surprised if Ren has changed too. He's probably married with a family of his own by now. Besides, if he really did rejoin the Brawlers…then why didn't he come back?" I could hear her voice breaking. I knew it hurt mom to think, let alone talk about him, but I didn't imagine it hurt her this much! I instantly felt a pang of guilt for every time I asked her about him. To think every time I mentioned my father, I was rekindling a pain she had been trying to forget for years.

Mom and Nessie kept talking for a few more minutes before they both fell silent.

"Oh Ren…" I saw her shoulders shake and tears fall from her eyes onto the photo album. She put her face in her hands and quietly sobbed to herself. I took this as my chance to sneak behind her. I slowly and carefully slid off the couch and onto the floor. Lex floated beside me as I tiptoed backwards to the stairs. I instantly froze when Nessie turned and saw me. Was I caught? Would she rat me out? Thankfully, Nessie said nothing and just waved for me to shoo. I nodded my head and slowly backed up the stairs.

Once I was safely in my room, I lightly shut the door and plopped onto me bed, thinking of what I just overheard. Was this Ren my father? I always thought I was named after mom, since our names are so similar, but now that I think about it, I could be named after both of them. Sora…Ren…I had to admit the name Soren does sound a lot like their names put together.

I sighed. I was about as close to learning about my father as DJ was to realize Bailey had a crush on him, and that would take a while. Bailey was gaga for DJ whenever he walked by. She idolized the ground he walked on, the air he breathed and he only saw her as a friend.

I didn't know what to do…I didn't want to hurt Mom more than I already had, but I couldn't just keep going on like this especially knowing my dad was out there now that I have a name.

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><p><strong>I guess you could say in a way that Lex is kinda Soren's Guardian Bakugan, but he isn't, at least not officially. Out of Sora's two Bakugan, Lex is usually the one who talks with Soren and looks after him when Sora is busy. Plus Lex is really the only male authority figure Soren grew up with and it someone he can talk to other than his mother and her female Guardian. <strong>

**NOTE: I've published the first chapter to me official Bakugan Next Generation fanfiction called "Brawlers of Tomorrow" so please check it out.**

**Please Review and check out my other fics!**

**~ZP**


	4. Ren Krawler

**I figured since it was over a month that I might as well update for you guys. Plus I've got a lot of the next chapters written anyway. A sad amount of reviews this time...**

**Review Replies: **

**drake:** thanks, glad you like it!

**sakura: **Thanks, and don't worry. He'll get his chance to meet Ren soon enough.

**lilly:**here you are!

**I do not own Bakugan, only all my OCs. This fic is not associated with the official Bakugan series. **

**Please remember to review and check out my other fics. Since I'm back at school, I'll be updating on a minimum of a monthly basis. Please remember to check out some of my others fics if you're interested and my dA for pics of my OCs.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

Soren woke up one morning later than usual. He did go to bed pretty late but thankfully it was a Saturday and he was out for school, so he could sleep all day if he wanted to. He came down the stairs and into the kitchen yawning and wiping his eyes.

"Finally woke up?" asked his mom. She stood by the stove, cooking something that smelled sweet and delicious. Since it was Saturday, Sora would be opening the store a couple hours later.

"Yeah…" he yawned again. He sat down at their dinner table as Sora placed a plate of pancakes in front of him. "Thanks," he said reaching for the butter and syrup.

"So what's the plan for today? You gonna head on over to Bakugan Interspace with your friends?" she asked, pouring syrup over her pancakes.

"Yeah, I guess…" he groaned.

Sora sighed. She put her fork and knife to the sides of her dish before cupping her hands together. "Listen, sweetie, I've been thinking about what you said."

"You have?" he asked, looking up surprised, a huge smile plastered over his face.

"Yes," she smiled back, assuring him she was telling the truth. "It's wrong of me to keep him from you for my own selfish reasons and you have every right to know who he is. So…" She reached behind her and pulled out the same photo album Soren had seen her with that night. She opened the album and pulled out a photo before handing it to Soren. "This is your father. His name is Ren Krawler."

Soren took the photo in his hands and examined it. In the picture next to his mother was a man with darker skin and spiky white hair. Soren was at a loss for words. He was a spitting image of his father! At least in human form.

"I don't have one of him in his Gundalian form. I've never seen it, but I imagine it's not too different from yours. You look so much like him," she said as if he had just read her mind.

"Yeah, what happened?" he asked, hesitant.

"I met your father 14 years ago," she slowly began, "He was new in town and living with your Uncle Marucho. It was a couple years after the Brawlers defeated King Zenoheld You remember that story right?" she asked. Soren nodded. How could he not? It was another great adventure story about the Brawlers, not to mention how Shun and Ayden met. "Well, he showed up just as Dan, Shun and Marucho were getting ready to test out Bakugan Interspace and helped Marucho set up the entire system. Ren and I started spending more time together and he eventually told the Brawlers that he was a Gundalian and that his planet was being invaded by Neathians."

"But I thought it was the Gundalians that were invading Neathia…" he asked, with a confused look.

"That's right. Ren was undercover and lied to get the Brawlers on his side. It wasn't until Princess Fabia from Neathia showed up when we realized everything he said and did was based on a lie," she said, her voice breaking as her eyes began watering.

"Mom, you don't have to keep going-"

"Yes, I do. You deserve to hear the whole story, especially since I made the others keep it from you. After the Brawlers went to help Fabia fight the war on Neathia, Ren eventually defected and rejoined them."

"So why haven't I ever met him before?" he asked, interrupting her again.

"BECAUSE HE NEVER CAME BACK!" she yelled, slamming her fists on the table, shaking all the dishes and cutlery.

Soren nearly jumped out of his seat at her sudden display of anger and sadness. But he instantly relaxed, knowing that none of it was directed at him. "Mom…" he sighed. He got out of his seat and went over to his mom and hugged her, rubbing her back in comfort.

"It's ok, I'm fine. Sorry, I needed to get that off my chest." She wiped her eyes and smiled at Soren. "Why don't you go and play with your friends?"

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><p>"So that's your dad?" asked Shin, looking at the photograph from Sora.<p>

"Yeah, at least that's what he looks like in his human form. It's probably changed by now; the picture is from 14 years ago," replied Soren.

"So what are you going to do now, dude?" asked DJ, snatching the photo from Shin to take a look.

"Yeah, now that you know who he is, you must want to find him!" cried Shiori.

"You should go find him, Soren," agreed Shizuka. "Our dad grew up not knowing his dad until he was 18! And by then dad wanted nothing to do with him when he suddenly showed up!" she beamed as she spoke. Soren was no stranger to Shizuka's crush on him, but she was four years younger than him and she was Shin's little sister.

"I have no idea what to do," groaned Soren. He finally got what he had been asking for for years, but he was still no closer to actually meeting his father. Finding him would be difficult!

"Girls, it's not that easy," said Bailey, leaning down to the twin in explanation. "Gundalia is another planet. It's not like Soren could just take a cab there to find his dad."

"I just wish I knew a little bit more about him…" Soren trailed off and stared at the photo of his parents again, which had eventually circulated through the entire group. Going to find him did sound like a good idea…but Bailey had a good point. He was on another planet!

"I could get you there…" said Azreal, flying up from his spot on Shizuka's shoulder.

"Azreal, you're seriously not suggesting what I think you're suggesting!" cried Lex.

"What? I think Soren should get the chance to meet his father," said Azreal.

"But what about my mom? She'll never let me go!" cried Soren.

"Then don't tell her. What's the worst that could happen?" asked DJ, with a cheeky wink and grin.

"DJ, you haven't seen what my mom is like when she's angry! She's almost like your mom when she's angry," he said, causing DJ to flinch, remembering instances of his mother, Runo's rage. "And I know for a fact that she wouldn't be ok with this. She practically hates him!"

"Look Soren, you can live your whole life only knowing his face and name…or you could take a chance and meet your father face to face," said Azreal.

"I agree with Azreal," said Drago, popping open onto DJ's shoulder.

"Drago?" asked DJ.

"One of the great things I've seen here on Earth is the bond between father and son. I never got the privilege of meeting my own father as Bakugan have different customs about family, but I know that it is one of my greatest regrets…Believe me, Soren, you don't want to live with that kind of regret," said Drago, sadly.

"Thanks, Drago." Soren thought for a moment before a smile suddenly grew wide on his face. "You're right…you're right! I'll go to Gundalia and find my father!"

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><p><strong>I hope you liked this chapter. So Soren finally learns about his dad and Azreal decides to give Soren a hand!<strong>

**Next Chapter: Soren prepares to leave for Gundalia, but Lex won't let him go alone, that's for sure!**

**Please review otherwise I won't update as often!**

**~ZP**


	5. Departure

**As a part of my birthday celebration, I'm updating every one of my fanfictions. Not as many reviews this time, but thanks for it, the alerts and favs! So here's the next chapter! Exam week was tough but the end was worth it: Arkham City! So awesome! For those who have been on my dA page and seen what Soren looks like, I intentionally made him look like Ren, because I love Ren's GI appearance and I wanted him to look so much like Ren so as to remind Sora of him. **

**Soren, now knowing who is father is, is unsure of what to do. But with a little help from his friends, he may just take the next step in meeting the father he's never known.**

**Review Replies: **

**drake: **Thanks, I'm really liking the fic too. It's unlike most of what I write (insertions), so I'm rather proud of this fic. Plus the canon characters are all adults, which is something new for me.

**lilly: **Thanks!

**Alana: **Thank you!

**Shadow: **You'll seeeee

**sakura: **Thanks, trust me, it gets better.

**I do not own Bakugan, only Sora, Soren, Lex, Nessie and other OCs and the Next Gen Brawlers. This fanfiction is not associated with the official Bakugan series.**

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><p><strong>Soren's POV<strong>

"Soren please, think about this! You can't just leave all of a sudden! You're mother will worry her head off!" cried Nessie, fluttering around my head in a worried manner. If Nessie was reacting like this by my news to leave for Gundalia, I could only imagine how Mom would react. Thankfully, I wasn't going to be telling her.

I was up in my room packing some clothes and food into my backpack. I wasn't sure how long I'd be there, let alone how long it would take me to find him so I had to be prepared to rough it for a few days. I made sure to grab the photo album containing all the pictures of mom and me when I was growing up and the photo she gave me the other day. I was going to meet up with the others at the park so that Azreal could take me to Gundalia. We had always heard about Azreal and Drago's abilities to cross dimensions, but we've never seen them up close before. Either one of them could have taken me, I suppose, but Azreal did offer before Drago.

"There's no point in arguing with him, Nessie. Soren's made up his mind," added Lex. Lex seemed to be taking this news quite well despite his initial opposition to Azreal's offer.

"But-"

"Don't worry, Nessie. I'll be going with him," said Lex.

"What?" I cried. I had originally planned on going myself.

"You don't expect me to let you go off on your own, do you? You're mother would kill me! Besides, when you're mother's not around, you're my responsibility," he said, shaking one of his claws at me.

I stared at Lex. I guess it wouldn't be too bad if he came along. He did know my dad and could help me find him. "Ok," I agreed.

"I guess there's no changing your mind, Soren," Nessie sighed in defeat. "You really are growing up! I'll stay here and look after your mother. She'll be running around like a chicken with her head cut off with you gone," said Nessie.

"Thanks Nessie," I smiled. I looked at my watch. "I better get going. I'm meeting the others in a few minutes." I ran down the stairs and into the store. Mom asked me where I was going and I just said I was meeting the other at the park, which technically was the truth.

I rushed over to the park with seconds to spare where all my friends were waiting for me. Shin stood up and greeted me. "Soren, you sure you want to do this?"

"Positive. I need to meet him and this is the only way I'll be able to." I turned to Azreal. "Azreal, I just wanted to thank you again. This really means a lot to me."

"Don't mention it, Soren. I understand how much you want to do this. Just make sure to come back soon and not to worry your mother. Take care of him, Lex."

"I will," said Lex.

I bent down to Shizuka as she starred at me with a flushed face. "Thank you for letting my use Azreal, Shizuka. This really means a lot to me," I said with a smile.

She held her hands behind her back and twisted her body side to side casually. "You're welcome, Soren. I hope you find your dad," she replied with blush and smile. I patted her head and stood up.

"Now, you'll want to be careful. This is your first time traveling to another dimension and we've only **heard** that it's painless," said Chi-chi. He handed me a paper bag. "Just in case," he said.

I chuckled a little, accepting the bag from him. "Thanks, guys. I'm glad I've got such great friends like all of you!" I confessed, an embarrassing blush creeping on my face.

"Oh, darling! You're making me blush!" squealed Bailey.

"Yeah, dude. Just get going before we get all teary eyed!" cried DJ, wiping his eyes.

Azreal opened a dimensional gate and Lex and I jumped through. We came out to a desolate wasteland with a dark sky. The soil beneath my feet was dry and crumbled easily and the air was thick and hard to breath. "Is this Gundalia?" I asked. I sure hope it wasn't.

"No…" said Lex. Lex suddenly started falling and I quickly caught him in my hands.

"Lex! What's wrong? Are you ok?"

"This isn't Gundalia, it's the Doom Dimension, the graveyard of all Bakugan. Any living Bakugan unfortunate enough to find itself here slowly has all it's energy drained. That is what's happening to Lex," explained Azreal.

"Then why are you still ok?" I asked, confused.

"I was born here. I am unaffected. Come on, I'll open another gate to Gundalia, best to get Lex out of this place as soon as possible," he said, opening a gate.

"Thanks again, Azreal. Take care of Shizuka!" I shouted, jumping into the gate, leaving Azreal behind. We jumped out and landed in a small alleyway.

"Ah, much better," said Lex, flying out from my hands. "I hate what that place does to me. Azreal's a lucky bastard that he's unaffected. Sorry, language."

"So is this Gundalia?" I asked. I pulled my hood over my head before peering out of the alley to check. I had never seen any other Gundalian aside from myself. But…from the looks of it, everyone on the street looked a bit like me. They had grey skin with the blue-gray face markings and the bone-like horns growing from their heads.

"Yes, this is definitely Gundalia," said Lex. "But it looks a lot different than when I was last here."

"You've been here?" I asked. "You never mentioned that!"

"It's sort of a secret between myself and Nessie. After we found out about Ren and how he and his team were kidnapping kids from Interspace, it wasn't long until your mother became a victim as well."

"You mean?"

"Your mom, along with many other kids, were taken here and brainwashed to fight the Neathians. By the time Nessie and I broke free of their control, your father came to rescue her. He took her home and…asked us not to tell her that he saved her. And to this day we still honor that promise," he said, looking down sadly.

"So, Ren rescued Mom, but he never told her?"

"That's right. Honestly, I think if he had, your parents would be together. But come on, we're wasting time. Let's find your father."

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><p><strong>I hope you liked it. More to come. Sorry the chapters are so short, but there's not a lot of action-packed scenes like in my other fics. I noticed when I was reading this that Soren is really unsure of himself. I intended that for his personality. He's rather lacking in confidence. Also, since the end of MS Arc 1 killed off Bakugan Interspace, and I wrote this fic before that, this fic is going under the assumption that Bakugan Interspace still exists. I might go back and edit it to the "Bakugan City" style.<strong>

**Next chapter - New Friends: Soren learns that finding his father in such a huge city is no easy task and quickly loses hope, but he finds the help he needs in his new friends.**

**Who are his new friends? I'm sure you can guess ;)**

**Review! ~ZP**


	6. New Friends

**I was really bored and felt like updating. Nice huh? Anyway, I will be getting hit with essay assignments later this month and early next month directly followed by finals until the mid December. Since the next few chapters are already written and all ready, I may update again during that time.**

**Review Replies:**

**Shadow: **Yup, you got it right! I expected nothing less from you ;)

**sakura: **Glad you like it!

**Alana: **Yup, the adventure is just getting started!

**lilly: **Thanks!

**Sheridan: **Excellent question. When I first created the Next Gen Brawlers, I made their ages around the 12-13 range (ex. Soren would be 13 and DJ would be 12). Shortly after, I started writing this fanfiction. Some time later, I decided to change the ages to more teenage (15-17 age range - DJ being bumped up to 15 and Soren to 16) rather than pre-teen since the official Next Gen plot and series I'm working on would be contain far more serious events and require them to be a little more grown up - the ages of those 10 and younger remained unchanged (ex. Shizuka and Shiori are still 9). Since I had already started this fic with everyone around the 12-13, I didn't feel like going back and changing it up, plus I felt that with Soren staying 13 in this fic, he would still have a child-like quality about him. This fic is really about him growing up a bit (which wouldn't have as great of an effect if he was 16) and getting Ren and Sora back together. I hope I explained it well enough.

**I do not own Bakugan, only Sora, Soren, Lex, Zeke, Juliet, Izumi, Bruce, Floria and other OCs...I just kinda spoiled it didn't I? lol, ah well. I'm sure some of you already knew anyway. This fanfiction is pure fan made and not associated with the Bakugan Battler Brawlers series.**

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><p><strong>Soren's POV<strong>

I had changed into my Gundalian appearance right away and pulled my hood off. I honestly hated staying in my human form. I hated having to hide who I really was, but I understood what would happen if people found out I was half alien. So whenever I was alone with family and friends, I would change back to my real appearance right away. My friends didn't seem to mind. In fact, they thought I looked cool and encouraged me to stay in my true form around them.

"The city really is bustling," I said. It was true. People and vehicles were zooming in and out of the streets.

"Yes, it must be really busy," added Lex.

We strolled through the city, scanning every single Gundalian that walked past us. We even looked into every store window for any signs of a white haired Gundalian. Hours had passed and we came up with nothing! I was starting to lose confidence and getting frustrated. We came to a park and I plopped onto a bench with a frustrated sigh.

"Who was I kidding? How are we possibly going to find my dad? There must be millions of other Gundalians and I don't even know where to begin looking!" I shouted, throwing my arms into the air. This was like finding a needle in a haystack!

"Don't worry, Soren. I'll help you find him, no matter how long it takes! We may only have a photo of his human form, but I've seen his Gundalian form! I know what he looks like!" Lex tried to reassure me, but it wasn't working.

"Lex, that was 14 years ago! It's not like he's going to look exactly the same as he did back then."

"Maybe, but **you** look just him. We'll find him no time, trust me."

"But this is getting us nowhere! He might not even be in **this** city!" I shouted.

"Soren, we'll find him. You just have to stay optimistic!"

"I know, I know." Lex was just trying to help and I was taking out my frustrations on him. I buried my face into my hands and sighed. What was I thinking? Did I honestly delude myself into believing that it would be this easy to find him? And right away? Maybe I should just head home now before mom realizes I even left.

"Excuse me." I looked up and saw a little girl with long, dark blue hair and big light blue eyes in a brown and orange dress. She had a Subterra Bakugan on her shoulder that looked like a bull.

"Um…hi," I replied, nervously cocking my eyebrow. I wasn't much of a talker to begin with, but this little girl just sorta appeared out of nowhere. It really caught me off guard.

"Are you ok?" she asked, cocky her head to the side innocently.

"W-why do you ask?" I was rather thrown off by her curiosity. People normally didn't just ask strangers about their troubles. But that was based on being raised on Earth…perhaps that was different on Gundalia? Either way, she was a very forward little girl.

"Floria, you're not supposed to talk to strangers!" scolded her Bakugan.

"Oh hush, Sabator! I haven't seen you around here before, and I'm at the park everyday!" she said with pride. "Are you new in town?" she asked, sitting next to me on the bench, playfully swinging her legs back and forth, while pounding me with several other questions.

"Yes," I answered, surprised. I tried to answer her first question right away when she took a break to inhale before she continued on with more questions that I'd probably forget. "How did you know?"

"I can tell. You look lost, do you need help getting somewhere?" she asked in a sweet voice.

"Floria!" wailed another voice. A little boy, just slightly taller than Floria came running up to us. He had short greenish grey hair and wore an orange shirt and brown pants. He also had a Subterra Bakugan with him in the shape of a dragon. "Floria, Izzy said you're not supposed to wander off on your own or talk to strangers! Do you know how much trouble I'll get in with mom and dad?"

"Oh relax, Bruce! I was just talking to my new friend!" she said with a casual and relaxed smile.

"Uh, Soren. My name is Soren Minamoto and this is Lex, short for Leviathan," I said, introducing Lex and myself.

"It's nice to meet you Soren and Lex! I'm Floria Brown and I'm nine years old!" she said, holding up nine fingers. "This is my Bakugan Sabator and Mr. Party Pooper here is my big brother Bruce, he's 11, and his Bakugan, Avior."

"It's nice to meet you all, but I don't think you can help me," I replied sadly.

"Come on, Floria. We have to get back to Izzy. It's almost dinner time!" whined Bruce.

"Nonsense, Bruce. We have to help Soren! We can help you find who you're looking for, but first, you must come to our house for dinner!" Floria grabbed my hand and pulled me with so much force that I didn't expect of a little nine-year-old girl that it pulled me right off the bench. Bruce followed us as Floria pulled me over to three Gundalians who looked my age, two boys and one girl. One boy was in light blue with darker blue hair tied in a ponytail while the other had spiky, green hair with one part dyed a dark blue. Most of his clothes were ripped in some places and he wore almost all black over a yellow tank top and had a guitar strapped to his back. The girl was wearing a short green dress, black stockings and brown boots, had blonde and red hair and was carrying a book in her arms.

"Floria, I told you not to wander off on your own!" scolded the blue haired boy. "And who's this?" he asked, looking at me with wary eyes.

"These are my new friends Soren Minamoto and Lex! They need help finding someone!" she boasted.

Bruce finally caught up to us and was panting as he spoke. "I…told her…not to talk…to strangers…but she wouldn't…listen to me!"

"I'm very sorry about this, she sort of ambushed me," I replied nervously, rubbing the back of my head.

"Don't worry about it. Floria does that. She's a bit, I guess you could say 'overly friendly.' Name's Izumi Brown, but everyone calls me Izzy," Izzy held out his hand for me to shake, which I gladly accepted.

"Izzy's our big brother!" boasted Floria with pride.

"These are my friends Juliet Glenn…" Izzy introduced the girl.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," she said, shaking my hand.

"…and Zeke Surrow," Izzy finished, introducing the other boy.

"Sup dude? How's it going?" The boy with the guitar shook my hand.

"Nice to meet all of you."

"So, Soren, Floria mentioned you were searching for someone?" asked Juliet.

"Yeah, I'm sort of on a mission to find my dad. My mom raised me by herself and I only found out about him a few days ago from my mom. I just got into the city this morning."

"That's heavy, dude. I don't exactly have that great of a relationship with my dad either," said Zeke. "He cheated on my mom a few years back, haven't talked to him since."

"Oh, I'm sorry…" I said, unsure of what else to say.

"Don't worry about it. It was years ago. Why don't you call it a night? I'm betting you've already searched long and hard enough. And you must be starving," suggested Zeke.

"Can Soren come over for dinner?" asked Floria, with hopeful eyes.

"Well, Zeke and Juliet are already coming over for dinner, but I suppose if it's ok with mom and dad and if Soren doesn't have any other plans…" said Izzy.

"Yay! Come on, Soren. Let's go to my house!" cried Floria, not even giving me a chance to answer and grabbing me by the arm and pulling me along. Izzy, Bruce, Juliet and Zeke followed closely behind as we wandered further into the city.

"So you guys all live in the city?" I asked. Floria had finally let go of my arm and we were casually walking through the city streets.

"Yeah, our parents were friends back during the Gundalian-Neathian war and when it ended. They all work for the Prime Minister so they have to be close by when he needs them," explained Izzy.

"That's the parliament building over there where all our parents work," pointed Zeke to a flashy and grand building. Green lights from street level were pointing up to it, making it easily identifiable from nearly anywhere in the city. "It used to be the royal palace but after the war ended, it was converted to better suit the new government."

"And we all live right across the street," said Juliet, pointing to the tall apartment building across from the old palace.

We entered the building and rode the elevator all the way up to the penthouse condos on the top level. "I really don't want to impose," I said.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure mom won't mind one more dinner guest," said Izzy. He opened the door and everyone entered the condo. "Mom? Dad? Anyone home?" He called, turning on the lights.

"We made a new friend! Can he stay for dinner?" cried Floria.

"Doesn't look like they're home," said Zeke.

Izzy walked into the kitchen and pulled off a note off the refrigerator. "Ah, here we go. Mom and dad got called to an important meeting. I guess I'm making dinner tonight. Soren, you ok with stir fry?"

"Yes, that would be fantastic!" As Izzy was preparing dinner for all of us, Floria gave me a tour of their home before we finally sat down in the living room.

"I think somebody has a little crush on you, Soren. Shizuka will have some competition," whispered Lex, nudging me in the arm.

"Shut up!" I whispered, swatting at him.

"So, Soren, where are you from?" asked Bruce.

"Actually, I'm from Earth," I said hesitantly.

"A Gundalian from Earth? I've never heard of that before. Did your family move there or something?" asked Juliet.

"Um, no. I was born there. You see my mom is human."

"So that would make you half Human and half Gundalian!" cried Zeke.

"We've heard of cross species breeding but we never thought it would happen between a Gundalian and a Human!" cried Juliet.

"So half Gundalians aren't that common?"

"Well, no actually. Ever since the Gundalian-Neathian war ended, there have been a lot of multiracial families between our two planets. We have two friends from Neathia who're half Neathian and half Gundalian. Their mom is a friend of our parents," called Izzy from the kitchen. Izzy came out minutes later with plates of stir-fry. After the meal, Izzy put a tired Bruce and a reluctant Floria to bed, who nearly refused to go to bed without a story, which she also insisted that Soren read to her.

"So Soren, since you're not from here, you'll be needing a place to sleep for the night, right?" asked Juliet.

"I'd offer you a spot here, but we're already pretty full," said Izzy.

"You can crash at my place, dude. Mom and I've got room," said Zeke.

"Just be warned, Zeke likes to make noise in the morning when he wakes up," said Juliet.

"It's not noise! It's music!" he protested. "And it's better than that foreign language stuff you bury your nose into!"

"It's literature and it's beautiful!" she argued.

"All right, all right, save it for when you're married," joked Izzy, causing Zeke and Juliet to blush madly and swiftly turn away from each other. I followed Zeke out of the Brown's home and into his own just one floor below.

"Mom probably won't be home until morning. She, Juliet's and Izzy's parents have been really busy lately pulling all nighters," Zeke explained as he put his guitar on the stand. He pulled out a pillow and blanket from the closet and turned to me. "You ok with the couch? Because you can sleep in my bed and I can take the couch if you want," he offered.

"The couch is fine, thank you," I said, taking the pillow and blanket. He tossed me two small objects. "What are these?" I asked.

"Earplugs, you'll need them for when I wake up." I wasn't sure by what he meant when he handed them to me, but I took him for his word and put them in anyway before going to sleep. The earplugs weren't as strong as I thought they were because a blazing electric guitar solo rang through my ears and I fell right off the couch.

"Whoa, dude, you ok?" asked Zeke, helping me up. "Sorry about that, sometimes I really get into the zone."

"No, no it's fine. What time is it?" I asked, standing up.

"Just past 7."

"7? Man, I gotta go! I've got a whole city to search through and not a lot of time to do it!" I cried, scrambling for my things.

"Dude, chill, you've got lots of time. I'd really like to help you out, but Izzy, Juliet and I all have summer plans. Izzy's doing summer courses, Bruce and Floria are in a day camp and Juliet and I are camp counselors in performing arts camp," he said, strumming his guitar.

"You've all done more than enough for me already. Really, thank you," I said with a bow. "It was really nice meeting you all, tell the others I said thank you!" I turned, ready to leave and resume my search.

"Oh, dude, hold up a sec. If you need some help, here's Izzy's, Juliet's and my cell number. Call any of us if you're in a pickle," he said, handing me a piece of paper.

I took it and examined the tree numbers written next to their names. "Thanks! I will."

"Good luck, dude!"

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><p><strong>When I first wrote this fic, I only had the Earth kids made up. It wasn't until after I made all the other Next Generation kids when I thought of putting the Gundalian kids in here, which I think was a great idea...especially since I really like the Gundalian kids ^^ Also, Izumi was referring to Roxanne and Cain Knight, the twin half Neathian and half Gundalian kids of Rafe and Paige. All these characters can be viewed on my deviantart.<strong>

**Next Chapter - The Tournament: Soren learns of a Bakugan tournament where the winner gets to battle famous war hero, Ren Krawler! But he doesn't have a Bakugan...right?**

**Review! ~ZP**


	7. The Tournament

******Hey guys, it's been about a month so I figured I'd update. Finals and term papers are coming closer so I've got to buckle down and study and work hard. The reason I was able to update this fic only is because I've got the next few chapters already written up. Thanks for all the +favs, +alerts, and reviews. They really mean a lot to me. **

**Review replies: **

**Sheridan: **Thanks. The Gundalian division of my Next Gen OCs are some of my favs, so thank you ^^ Zeke and Juliet are one of my fav pairings too XD. Yes, as you will read in this chapter, Ren is still very close with Lena, Mason, Jesse and Zenet.

**drake: **Thanks. I'm glad I didn't get this far until AFTER I made the rest of the Next Gen characters. I think it was a great idea including them in the story ^^

**Stormfang: **Thanks. Yes, Soren has learned a thing or two, mostly from Shin since Shin is his best friend. I didn't even realize that the name was changed to BakuColars lol. Personally, I liked it when they just held the card up like in season 1 and GI. I wasn't a fan of the bracelets, but I did like the Gauntlets. So I'm going with the battling system where they just hold up the cards.

**sakura: **hehe, hope so!

**Alana:** Thanks. I needed some way to get them to meet and Floria was the one to do it.

**I do not own Bakugan, only Soren, Lex and the Next Gen Brawlers. This fanfiction is not associated with the Bakugan Battle Brawlers series.**

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><p><strong>Soren's POV<strong>

"Those kids were really nice," said Lex, surprised.

"Yeah, it's too bad they couldn't help me find dad, but I understand. They all have their own engagements. Any clues as to where we should start today?" I asked. I kept walking down the street, but stopped when I felt that Lex was floating next to me anymore. I turned around and saw him staring up at a building across the street. "Lex?"

"Soren! Look!" I looked in the direction he was facing.

"What? What is it?" I asked, scanning the entire other side of the street for what Lex was talking about.

"Look at that announcement!" he pointed with one of his claws.

I scanned the text of an announcement on the digital bulletin board that sat on the side of a tall building right in front of us. "The winner of this tournament will have a chance to meet and battle with legendary war hero and army commander, Ren Krawler!" I read aloud.

"Soren, this is our chance! If we enter and win that tournament, we can get to your father!" cried Lex.

"But I-I'm not very good…" I said. I hadn't had a lot of experience with Bakugan battles. I didn't have a real Guardian Bakugan like all my friends and I wasn't nearly as good as DJ or Shin! And their Bakugan, Drago and Taylean, were already so skilled.

"Soren, this is our best chance. Like it says up there, your father is a war hero. It's not like we can just walk in through the front door and expect him to see us! We have to enter that tournament!" Lex cried, stressing his point.

"But I don't have a Guardian Bakugan, let alone any of my own!" I replied.

"You can use me!" he exclaimed.

"What? Are you sure? You're my mom's Guardian Bakugan." I asked, uncertain.

"It would be my honor, Soren. I know Aquos isn't your preferred attribute, but I know that if we work together, we can win that tournament and you can finally meet your father."

I hesitated for a moment. I hadn't been that good of a battler. Most of the time, Shin would give me pointers. But Lex was right. This was my best and probably only chance at finally meeting him! "All right, Lex. Let's do it…thanks, Lex. I'm lucky to have a friend like you," I said, holding him in my hands.

"Don't mention it kid. You're my partner's son and I love you. I want you and your mother to be happy more than anything and I truly believe that if Ren meets you, he'll find the courage to come back to you, both of you."

"You really think so?" I asked hopefully. That would be just wonderful, having my dad come live with us! We'd be a real family. All three of us together...yeah, that sounded nice.

"I saw the look in his eyes when he rescued your mother. He still loved her, despite what he was doing. I'm sure that he still loves her." Lex looked back at the announcement. "We better hurry to that stadium and sign up. Looks like the tournament sign up is closing in a couple hours."

"Then we better get going!" It took us a while to find the stadium, but by the time we arrived they had just closed the sign ups. I begged and pleaded and be allowed in. The administrator took pity on me and finally conceded.

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><p><strong>Ren's POV<strong>

"Guys, you can't make me do this! I've got a ton of paper work due tomorrow and I haven't even started!" Mason and Jesse dragged me down the hallway of the stadium. I would have physically fought with them, but I was just too tired to give a crap. "Come on, guys! Lillith's going to be back in town in a few days and she'll freak if she sees the pigsty I call my office.

"Aw, forget Lillith, we never really liked her anyway. You can't be such a party pooper, Ren. You need to get out more," said Mason.

"Mason is right. Our lead cannot simply hide himself in the shadows. He must be on centre stage for all the audience to see!" said Jesse.

"Aw come on, I don't want to go to some amateur tournament!" I groaned. I was still Commander of the Gundalian army, but after the whole Chaos Bakugan and Mag Mel fiasco, things got pretty quite and all I really had left to do was mountains and mountains of paper work.

"Ren, despite the job, steady income and fiancee, we can tell you're still not happy," said Lena, pushing up her glasses with her index finger.

"Yeah, Ren. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that, especially since you sulk at home all day long," added Zenet.

"Then why bring me to an amateur tournament?" I asked, confused.

"Because…we said that the winner gets to battle you!" said Linehalt suddenly.

"What? Why would you do that?" I shouted.

"Ren, you need to get out more and I thought that a battle with a fresh face would help you," said Linehalt.

"Linehalt…" I groaned.

"Please Ren…if not for yourself, do this for us: your friends, who care about you," said Linehalt.

I closed my eyes and sighed. "Fine, I'll play along. Might as well check out the next generation of battlers."

"That's the spirit!" exclaimed Zenet.

It had been about fourteen years since the end of the Gundalian-Neathian war. And Gundalia had never been better since! Nurzak established a new government and was elected Prime Minister, using the old royal palace as their new parliament building. Mason, Lena, Zenet and Jesse all worked in the parliament building with Nurzak while I was still an army commander. They had all come such a long way since our time as lowly soldiers.

Mason and Lena got married and had three kids, Izumi, Bruce and Floria, whom they named after Nurzak's daughter. Jesse married as well and had a daughter named Juliet who was as much of a Shakespeare nut as he was, but his wife died in childbirth. Zenet started a family as well and had a son of her own, Zeke, but she caught her husband having an affair and divorced him. She and Zeke haven't spoken to him since. Everyone was moving forward and I was stuck living in the past thinking about what I had left behind.

We walked into our private box with a perfect view of the arena and the stands. It was the opening ceremony so all the contestants were gathered in the arena. I scanned the row of my potential opponent and my eyes landed on a young boy with white hair like mine.

"Hey, Ren. That boy looks just like you!" said Linehalt, motioning to the white haired boy.

"Yeah, he does…" My thoughts instantly went back to Sora, the woman I fell in love with and who I left behind back on Earth. It had been a while since I thought about her. I had tried to move on and forget about her, like I'm sure she had about me, but every tiny thing just made me think about her again. Not even Lillith could take my mind off Sora. Lillith entered my life a few years after the end of the war and we got engaged just about a year ago. I couldn't help but feel like I made such a big mistake not going straight to Earth after we defeated Barodius, but Gundalia was in ruin and I needed to help my home rebuild! And it's not like I could just go back now after all these years!

Sora's probably gotten over me by now. She's probably married with kids of her own now. Whoever was lucky enough to get her heart was a lucky man. I missed her. But that was the past. I had to move on, she must have by now.

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><p><strong>Well, hope you enjoyed that!<strong>

**Next Chapter - Our First Battle: With Lex's help, Soren advances to the final round of the tournament and finally faces Ren Krawler in battle.**

**Review! ~ZP**


	8. Our First Battle

**Also felt like updating this fic too, especially since I've already got the next few chapters written, unlike with my other fics. So the last time we left off, Soren entered a tournament where he gets to fight Ren, who was forced into the commitment by his oh so caring friends. Thanks for all the reviews, alerts and favs! They mean a lot!**

**Review Replies: **

**Alana: **Yup and hopefully, he can.

**lilly: **Thanks!

**Stormfang: **Thank you. You'll seeeee

**sakura: **He sure is. And thanks ^^

**Sheridan: **Thank you! Well, originally I was going to do some political stuff like Ren having to choose between his status and family. But there isn't much opportunity for that right now, since he's just a military commander. The greatest conflict will mostly be between Soren and Lillith. You can totally write about my characters, I would love to read it! Please send me a link when you do upload it ^^ Yeah, just credit me as the creators of my characters whenever you use them ;)

**shadow: **lol, no worries and thank you! Sorry that I wasn't able to get to get to you right away. I was swamped with finals until a couple days ago and have been catching up on my drawings and fics. You can message me anytime with any questions or concerns you have ;)

**Rain: **Thanks, I'm glad you are enjoying it!

**I do not own Bakugan, only Soren, Sora, Lex, Next Gen Brawlers and other OCs. This fic is not associated with the Bakugan Battle Brawlers series.**

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><p><strong>Soren's POV<strong>

"Ok, don't be nervous. It's just the first round…it's ok," I said over and over to myself. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself.

"Soren, you need to relax. I've scanned the competition and I'm way stronger. I just need you to follow my lead and watch my back. It'll be all right, got it?" asked Lex, floating in front of my face.

I sighed. "I know. This is just my first time in a tournament battle, I mean, a real tournament. All my fights have been friendly matches with DJ, Shin and the others. I don't know how different it'll be! Maybe I'm just over thinking it, man I always do that. Let's go!" I shook off my uncertainty and I ran into the arena once my name was called and the platform lifted me up across from my opponent. "Ok, let's do it! Gate Card set! Aquos Leviathan stand!" I threw Lex onto the field and he roared, snapping his claws readily at my opponent.

It took a while, but I managed to win. It was actually pretty easy. I was a lot better than I thought. After a few more matches, I retired to one of the locker rooms. I heard a knock at the door and went to open it. "Guys, what are you all doing here?" I asked, Izzy, Zeke, Juliet, Bruce and Floria all standing in the doorway.

"We heard about you entering the tournament and thought we'd come cheer you on!" said Izzy.

"Dude, your battle was awesome!" cried Zeke.

"You were really great, Soren," said Floria bashfully in a manner that reminded me of Shizuka.

"Thanks," I said.

"So why did you enter a Bakugan tournament? I thought you were still looking for your dad?" asked Juliet.

"Well, that's why I entered! If I win, I get the chance to battle him and then I can meet him!"

"Wait, wait, wait…Ren Krawler is your dad?" asked Izzy.

"Yeah. Why?" I asked, seeing the sudden shocked looks on their faces.

"Um, nothing. Would you excuse us?" Izzy asked.

"Uh, sure…" I said as they filed out of the locker room quickly but not before giving me a "Good luck!"

* * *

><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

** '**_An Aquos Leviathan? Lex?' _thought Ren. He jumped out of his seat, startling his friends, and placed his hands on the glass window once he saw Leviathan. He almost pressed his entire face against the glass to get a better look at it and make sure he wasn't seeing things. _'What is Lex doing here? Is Sora with him?'_

"Ren, isn't that?" asked Linehalt, floating next to Ren.

"Ren, isn't that your old girlfriend's Bakugan?" asked Mason.

"Mason, you shouldn't bring up such an issue!" Lena scolded her husband.

"Leviathan…no, it couldn't be. It's probably just another Aquos Leviathan that found its way here. It couldn't be Lex…" Ren plopped back into his seat and put his chin on his hand, watching the battle. As if it wasn't bad enough already, seeing an Aquos Leviathan only made him think of Sora more and made a pain form in his chest.

Linehalt, however, was still locked on sight with the familiar Bakugan. He didn't know the rarity of Leviathans since he had been on Gundalia all his life, so it could very well be another Leviathan. Linehalt was about to turn away but something caught his eye. He saw the three glowing spheres hanging off Leviathan's right antenna. His eyes moved to his left antenna where he immediately noticed a missing jewel. And if memory served, Linehalt remembered exactly where that missing jewel resided.

There was a knock at the door and Lena went to answer it. "Kids, what are you all doing here?" she asked when she saw her children along with Juliet and Zeke.

"Mom, we've got something really important to tell you," said Izzy in a whisper, careful not to alert Ren. Mason, Jesse and Zenet crowd around them as Izzy revealed their news.

"What? Are you serious? Hey, Ren! You'll never guess what-" Lena swiftly clamped her hand over Zenet's mouth.

"What?" asked Ren.

"Um, she was just going to say how much that kid down there looks like you!" said Mason.

"Nice save," whispered Zeke.

"Oh, yeah, Linehalt already said that," said Ren in monotone, turning his attention back to the battle. The parents and their children exchanged nervous looks at each other before all looking at Ren and the Gundalian boy who looked just like him.

* * *

><p><strong>Soren's POV<strong>

"Don't worry! I've got your back! **Blue Lightning!**" Leviathan fired blue lightning from his claws at my opponent Bakugan, sending it back to my foe. Leviathan landed in my hand. "We did it, Lex! We won! I can't believe it!"

"You doubted me? I'm offended!" he joked.

"No, no. I just-just can't believe we actually made it this far! I was about to give up yesterday, but just look at how far we've come!" I could barely contain my joy. In less than hours, we entered a tournament where I could get my chance to meet my dad, and we were so close!

"Yes, let's not lose momentum now. The next match is with your father, are you ready for this?" asked Lex.

I nodded. "I was born ready, Lex."

"Glad to hear it. Now when we fight your father, I'm not going to say anything. Ren or Linehalt could recognize me and I think it's best if Ren finds out the truth from you."

"Right. Let's do this!"

"So, you're the battler I'm facing, huh?" I looked across the arena and saw a platform carry Ren Krawler up to the field. My father…I was going to have a Bakugan battle with my father! Words could not express what I feeling right now!

"Um, yes!" I answered quickly, trying to contain my joy and act natural.

"Hm, you don't look like you've been battling for very long. Your partner must be very strong. Where did you get him?" Ren asked with a suspicious glare.

I nearly flinched. My dad was scary, but not as scary as Mom. No…I had to be strong! I had to be brave! "Um…well, he's not really mine. I'm just borrowing him."

"Borrowing? You don't have a Guardian Bakugan?" he asked, cocking his eyebrow.

"No," I answered.

"Who are you borrowing him from?" he asked, suspicion still written across his face.

"My mom, but she doesn't battle anymore," I answered, careful to leave out her name. I didn't want to tell him until after out battle.

"Your mom, huh? She must be a great battler," he said, impressed.

"Oh, she is," I smirked. He had no idea.

"Well, let's see if it runs in the family. Gate Card set! Linehalt stand!" Darkus Linehalt stood on the field. So dad was a Darkus battler just like me! Or rather, I was a Darkus battler, just like him!

"Leviathan stand! **Claw Hammer!**" Leviathan was ready to smash Linehalt with his claws.

"Nice move, now it's my turn! **Volting Vibra!**" Linehalt fired purple lightning bolts at Lex before he could continue attacking.

"**Blue Lightning!**" Lex fired his blue lightning at Linehalt, creating a cloud of smoke. Once it cleared, Linehalt stood as if the attack had no effect on him. "He's still standing? Man, this guy's tough."

"You've got potential kid, but you're not at all in my league. Gate Card open! Freeze Enemy! Good luck trying to get out of this one, kid. Linehalt, finish him!"

"With pleasure!" Linehalt fired another bolt at Lex, sending him at my feet. The crowd erupted in applause.

I rushed over to Lex and picked him up. "Lex, you ok?"

"I'm fine. Linehalt's gotten stronger, much stronger." Lex was tired, I could tell from his panting. He had given his all in every battle before this. "Listen, Soren, I'm going to be honest here. I don't think I can win this fight."

I smiled. "That's fine, Lex. I didn't expect us to get this far, let alone beat my dad on the first try. I'm just glad that we got this far, together."

"Together…If we're going to go down, we'll go down fighting! Put me back in there!"

"You got it! Gate Card set! Leviathan stand! Let's go all out!"

"This kid's not backing down," said Linehalt. "He stubborn, just like you."

"Not funny, let's finish this. Linehalt stand! **Razen Breaker!**"

"**Tsunami Tail!**" Lex smashed his tail at Linehalt's attack. "Gate Card open! Aquos Reactor!

"Nice move, kid, but I can do better! **Ice Crasher!**" Purple icicles rained down from the sky and smashed my Gate Card to pieces. Dad was good, really good. "**Dark Javelin!**" Linehalt summoned a black and purple javelin and fired an energy bolt at Lex.

I fell to my knees as Lex landed in front of me. I picked him up and held him in my hands. "Sorry, kid. I just didn't have the energy left. Linehalt's just far too strong for me," said Lex.

"It's ok, Lex. You did your best and I never would've gotten this far if it weren't for you!" I looked up as the crowd applauded my dad's win. He was about to leave! No! I had come too far to lose him now.

"Wait!" Ren and Linehalt turned to me. I was about to walk over to him, but there was no connection from my platform to his. "Uh…um, excuse me, mister big, scary Bakugan, could you, uh…"

"Oh! Um, sure," Before I could even finish asking my question, Linehalt held his hand down. I jumped on and he carried me over to Ren's platform. Just as I jumped off his hand and thanked him, he turned back into ball form.

"What do you want now, kid? A rematch? A picture?" he asked, annoyed as he elegantly caught Linehalt in his hand. I felt slightly hurt by how quickly he was to turn me away…but he didn't know who I was, at least not yet.

"No, I already have a picture of you. Well, not in this form…" I trailed off.

"This form?" he asked, quizzical. "What do you mean?"

I opened my bag and pulled out the photograph mom had given me a couple nights ago of the two of them. I looked at the photo before handing it to him. Ren took the photo from my hands. I saw his eyes widen and heard him gasp.

"Wh-where did you get this picture?" he asked shakily.

"From Sora," I answered.

"Sora?" His eyes widened and he looked like he was about to faint. "Why would Sora give this to you?" he asked, looking at the picture again, longingly. His tone however, was threatening and intimidating. He wanted details…an answer.

"Because she thought I'd like to know what my father looked like."

"What?" he breathed.

"Did he just say what I think he said?" asked Linehalt.

"My name is Soren Minamoto, I'm Sora's son."

"It's been a while Ren, Linehalt," Lex flew up to them, causing them both to jump back.

"Lex? What are you doing here?" asked Ren. "What is going on? Who is this kid?"

"I'll explain everything, Ren. But first, I think this is a conversation that we should continue somewhere in private," said Lex.

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><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed that! And I hope the battle was ok for you. Soren wouldn't have won because he's not the best Brawler and there's no way he could beat Ren on his first try right?<strong>

**Next Chapter - Fourteen Years: Ren learns that he's had a son for the past fourteen years and isn't quite sure how to handle the sudden news. **

**Review! ~ZP**


	9. Fourteen Years

**Here's the next chapter. I figured since I've already got it written up and I head back to school soon, I should throw you guys a bone. XD **

**Review Replies: **

**Storm: **Yeah, I figured it would be to unbelievable if he actually won. I mean come on, Ren's an experienced veteran while Soren's still a newbie lol

**Alana: **yeah...

**lilly: **here you are!

**drake: **Thank you. I'm glad you like the fic. If you added it to alert on that shared account of yours, you'll be informed of updates ;)

**nai: **Thanks

**Layra: **All right, all right. Here you are ;)

**I do not own Bakugan, only Soren, Lex, the Next Gen Brawlers and other OCs. This fic is not associated with the Bakugan Battle Brawlers series.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

Soren sat in his father's apartment while Ren and his friends were in his office discussing the new information they had just learned. They had sent their children home, leaving young Soren all alone. It almost felt like torture for him, all this waiting. He had finally met his father and revealed their relationship to him and all Soren could do was wait to see what Ren was going to do now that he knew what he knew.

Ren sat in his chair while his friends crowded around his desk. He just found out that for the past fourteen years, he had a son. _'How could this have happened?'_ he thought. Ren quickly remembered back to his wonderful but brief time on Earth. _'Oh yeah, that night when we…'_

"Ren, you don't actually believe this kid do you?" asked Zenet.

"Man, you had a better time on Earth than you let on," said Mason elbowing Ren in admiration. Ren brushed Mason's arm away from him in an annoyed sigh. Now was not the time for jokes and playfulness, despite the amount of cheering up he needed.

"Mason!" berated Lena. "But still, there's no actual proof that what this kid is saying is true. He could just be a fan with some elaborate ruse," added Lena. "We could easily conduct a DNA test and this whole thing can be over."

"It is true…he's got a photo of me on Earth **and** he's got Lex. Besides, he looks just like me and he's got her eyes. Her beautiful blue eyes…" said Ren in a trance, remembering the last time he looked into those eyes fourteen years ago. They were in tears and it was the last time Sora ever spoke to him. She had confronted him about him being a traitor. She was crying and she shouted, "I hate you! I never want to see you again," before she ran off.

"Ren, I can't imagine what you must be feeling but…" started Lex.

"Oh really? I just found out that I've had a son for the past 14 years!" he shouted. Ren sighed and leaned back in his chair before rubbing his temple. "How could she not tell me?"

"Well how did you expect her to tell you? It's not like she has a dimensional transporter of her own and it's not like you came back," said Lex.

"Don't try and turn this around on me! She's the one who never told me about this!" he shouted, pointing his finger in accusation at Lex.

"I'm not trying to do that, Ren. I'm just saying that if you really still cared about her, you would have come back to her and then you would have known about Soren. He could have grown up with a father."

Ren groaned. "I don't know what to do. I've got a thirteen year old boy sitting in there expecting me to be his dad and I don't even know where to begin! And in case you all forgot, I'm supposed to get married next month! Lilith is freaking out over all the work and organization of the wedding and she's going to freak out even more when she finds out that I have a son! Linehalt, what do you think?" Ren looked up when he didn't hear Linehalt and scanned the room for him. "Linehalt?"

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><p>"So, you're Ren's son?" asked Linehalt. "You look just like him."<p>

"Um, yes, my name is Soren. I only found out about my dad a couple days ago."

"You mean Sora never told you about him?" Linehalt asked, surprised.

"No, I'd ask a few times, but I could see that she didn't want to talk about it, so I just dropped it."

"How is Sora anyway?" asked Linehalt.

"She's ok…" he answered plainly.

"So since Ren is Gundalian and your mother is Human, that would make you…"

"Half and half, yeah. I have to disguise myself whenever I go out. You're my dad's Guardian Bakugan right?"

"Yes, ever since he was a child. I am Darkus Linehalt. Did Sora give Lex to you?"

"No, no, she offered but I declined. I don't really feel like an Aquos Brawler...I don't really have a Guardian Bakugan."

"So tell me about you. You go to school right? Who are your friends?"

"Oh, I've got tons of friends. We've actually sort of taken over the Brawlers from our parents. There's DJ, Bailey, Chichi, Shin and the twins," said Soren, counting off his friends with his fingers.

"Uh…" Linehalt started.

"Oh, sorry. You don't know them. Well, DJ is Dan and Runo's son, Bailey is Billy and Julie's daughter, Shuichi, we call him Chi-chi, is Marucho's nephew, and Shin, Shizuka and Shiori are Shun and Ayden's kids. And I met Izzy, Zeke, Juliet, Bruce and Floria yesterday."

"Wow, it's good to hear that our old friends are doing well and have families of their own," said Linehalt. He and Soren looked up as Ren and his friends came out of the office.

"Soren, was it? Listen…" Ren spoke, nervously rubbing the back of his head. "Until we get this thing sorted out, you should probably stay here. Guest room's over there," he said, avoiding eye contact during the conversation while pointing to another room.

"Oh…" Soren was expecting a bit more than that. "Thanks…" He picked up his bed and made for the guest room to unpack his things.

"Hey…does your mother know you're here?" he asked nervously.

"No…" replied Soren.

"Well, I should probably give her call…to, you know, let her know you're here…"

"Right…" Soren pulled out a piece of paper and wrote something down before handing it to Ren. "That's our phone number. I don't know if you'll be able to reach her from here."

"I'll take care of that. You should probably get to bed, you've had a long day."

"Yeah, thanks da-…Ren."

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><p><strong>Ren's POV<strong>

It was nearly midnight. Jesse, Mason, Lena and Zenet all went home with their kids while I stayed in my office, wide-awake. I fingered the piece of paper that Soren had given me with Sora's phone number on it, completely ignoring the mountains of paper work I had due the next day. I had to call her and let her know that Soren was here, that he was safe…but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Was I nervous? Was I afraid? I think that was it. I was afraid to hear her voice, to hear what she might say. I was afraid she wouldn't take me back, even after I returned to the Brawlers' side. That's why I never went back to Earth. I was a coward.

"Ren, you can't put this off any more than you already have," said Linehalt, breaking the silence.

"I know. Could you excuse me, Linehalt? I'd like to be alone," I said.

"Of course, Ren. I understand." Linehalt flew out of the office and I was alone. I looked at the number in my hands before reaching for my communicator and typing in her number.

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><p><strong>I honestly don't know or care how the whole communication across dimensions would work without Marucho's stuff. lol. But whatever, that's not the focus of the fic .<strong>

**Next Chapter - The Phone Call: Sora is worried over Soren's disappearance but then receives a blast from the past when an old flame calls her up.**

**Review! ~ZP**


	10. The Phone Call

**Hard to believe it's only been...three weeks since I last updated? It honestly feels longer, though that's probably school's fault lol. This is the last chapter that I've already had written up so the next one will be a while.**

**Review Replies: **

**lilly: **lol, glad you like it. Hope the new year was great for you too!

**nai: **you do now

**Layra: **Thanks, hope you like this chapter

**Alana: **Thanks, lol

**drake: **Well I wouldn't know what it's like to find out you've had a child for a long time and didn't know it but I'm assume it would be shocking, so I hope I portrayed it well. Happy new year to you too, ditto!

**I do not own Bakugan, only Soren, Sora, Ayden, Azreal, Lex, Nessie and other OCs. This fic is not associated with the Bakugan Battle Brawlers series. **

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

"I just can't believe he would do this! Why would he just run away?" cried Sora. She paced back and forth through her living room wiping the occasional tear while Ayden sat on the couch watching her.

"Sora, I'm sure he's just fine!" cried Ayden. "Please sit down, you're making me dizzy."

"I'm sorry, I just- Soren's never done anything like this before! It's not like him to just up and disappear without a word! Where could he have gone?" Sora buried her head in her hands and sighed, wiping her eyes.

"He must have had a reason. What was the last thing you guys talked about?"

"Well…He asked about Ren again a couple weeks ago, so I finally decided to tell him about-"

"Um, Sora, I'm just going to interrupt you right there. We know something about Soren's disappearance," said Azreal as he and Nessie came into view.

"Oh. My. God. He went to find Ren, didn't he?" she cried in realization.

"That's a theory, but how could he get all the way to Gunda-wait a minute! Azreal?" asked Ayden, with an expression of shock and awe on her face.

"I may have had something to do with getting Ren to Gundalia…" said Azreal. Nessie nudged him. "Ok, all of it."

"Azreal, how could you do that?" asked Sora.

"I'm sorry, but Soren was determined to find Ren. I could see how important this was to him so I wanted to help," said Azreal.

"You don't need to worry so much, Sora. Lex is with him, after all. He'll be fine," said Nessie.

"But I'm his mother! It's my job to worry. And how can you expect me not to worry when my son is all across dimensions on another planet all alone," groaned Sora.

"Sora, I'm sure everything will be fine. Lex is looking out for Soren and they'll find Ren in no time. Just be patient." Ayden looked at her watch. "Listen, I hate to leave you like this but I've got to get home and make dinner for the kids."

"Go, go, I understand. And thanks for coming over Ayden." Sora skipped dinner and spent the rest of the evening sitting at the dining table drinking coffee. She decided to flip through her photo album of Soren, but she couldn't find it. _'Soren must've taken it with him,'_ she thought. With no other option, she flipped through her personal album of her younger years. It was filled with pictures of her and Ren together. With every page she flipped, it brought back happy and wonderful memories of her time with Ren, but it also brought back painful feelings.

"Oh Ren…" she said, fingering a photo of her and her former lover. She nearly jumped out of her seat when the phone rang. _'Who would be calling this late?'_ she thought as she picked up the phone and answered it. "Hello?" Nobody responded but she could tell someone was there when she heard someone breathing on the other end. "Hello?" she asked again, but still no answer. "Hello!" she shouted into the speaker in hopes of getting the caller to talk. She was just about to hang up when she heard a familiar voice.

"Sora…"

Sora stopped when she heard the voice say her name. She knew the owner of this voice well. For months she had been in his arms, the sound of his voice after all these years bringing back powerful memories and feelings of way back when. They cuddled, they kissed, they… Sora sighed and shut her eyes. She had not heard this voice in over fourteen years. And hearing it now, after telling her, no, their son the truth brought both a smile to her face and tears to her eyes.

"…Ren," she smiled slightly as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"…It's good to hear your voice again."

"It's been fourteen years, Ren…" she answered in a stern voice, wiping the tears from her eyes. Though she still loved Ren, her anger and hatred towards him overpowered the former emotion.

"I know…" he replied sadly.

"Is Soren there? Is he with you?" she asked quickly in worry.

"Yeah, yeah he's here. Fast asleep. Sora, how could you not tell me about him?"

"I would've loved to tell you that I was pregnant with our child, Ren," she said in a sarcastic and condescending tone. "But if you recall, you were one of the bad guys AND you were on a different planet. It's not like my cell phone coverage could reach that far," she said with resentment.

"I know, I-"

"No, I don't think you do you, Ren. When I found out the truth about you, it broke my heart, more than you could ever imagine. It made me feel like everything we had was just a sham, a lie. I thought that what we had…that I meant nothing to you. And then when I found out I was pregnant, I was sad, but also happy knowing that I could have a reminder of how good things were then…even though they didn't end the way I'd hoped."

"Sora, please, if you just let me explain-"

"I gave you plenty of opportunities to for you to explain, Ren. You've had fourteen years to explain yourself," she said, sharply cutting him off again. "Ayden even told me that you defected and rejoined the Brawlers during that war."

"Yes, that's right I-"

"Then why didn't come back?" she asked, her voice growing weaker as tears flowed down her cheeks.

"…"

"I thought that if you really cared about us, about me, then you would have come back and Soren would have grown up knowing his father."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, Sora. I messed up. There's nothing to excuse what I did. You just don't know what it's like finding out you've had a son for fourteen years."

"Its real shocker, isn't it?"

Ren chuckled. "Yes, um, what do you want to do with him? Should I just send him home?"

"No, no, don't do that. Soren made a big effort to get to Gundalia to find you. If I made him come home now, he'll resent me more than ever."

"So…what should I do?" he asked, unsure.

"Look, he's already out for summer vacation, so I guess he can stay there. Take care of him, you hear me? One tiny little scratch on him and so help me I'll-"

"I'll take care of him, don't worry…"

"Well, enjoy your time with him. Bond. You've got fourteen years to catch up on and only less than three months to do it."

"Heh, you're still as funny as always, Sora. I've really missed you…It's great to hear your voice again."

"Oh, shut up, Ren," she said softly, trying not to sound too angry. "You already said that. Just take care of our son," she said, realizing she said "our son" out loud instead of "my son."

"I will, I promise," he said sincerely.

"Don't make a girl a promise you can't keep, Ren. Just have Soren call me every once in a while."

"All right," said Ren.

"Goodbye," Sora hung up the phone and starred at the picture of her and Ren at the mall. Things seemed so much easier back then.

* * *

><p><strong>Now I'm sure you're all thinking 'where was the rage? the yelling?' Honestly, there wasn't going to be any. Even in the film I'm basing this on, "What a Girl Wants," there was no yelling between the mom and dad during their phone call, just calm voices with the lady subtly reminding him how much he hurt her.<strong>

**Next Chapter - Bonding: Ren tries bonding with his son but his fiancee's return may threaten it.**

**~REview ZP**


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